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Saturn Moon’s Surface May Conceal Salty Ocean

Five years ago, scientists discovered that Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, had geyserlike plumes spewing water vapor and ice particles.

These plumes originate from a saltwater reservoir, according to a new study published online by the journal Nature.

“We discovered that the plume is stratified in a composition of ice,” said Frank Postberg , an astrophysicist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. “And the lower you go, the more salt-rich ice grains you find.”

Dr. Postberg and his collaborators analyzed samples of ice particles from the plumes gathered by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.